The first protective costs order (PCO) has been awarded by the UK Supreme Court for a Scottish case. A PCO, as described here by PILA, is a costs order made at the outset of proceedings which provides that if the PCO applicant is unsuccessful in their substantive case they will not be liable for the other party’s costs or will only be partly liable.
In this case, the applicant Ms.Uprichard was awarded a PCO of £6000, which means that if she is unsuccessful the other parties can only claim £3000 each from her. Ms.Uprichard had been facing a bill of £173,000 for legal costs after her failure at the Court of Session in Edinburgh to challenge certain development plans for the town of St.Andrews in Scotland.
Speaking to PILA, Ms. said that the PCO decision had been issued in a brief letter to her lawyer saying that “a protective costs order be made restricting the Appellant's liability to £3000 in respect of each of the two Respondents. The Respondents' liability to the Appellant be restricted to the reasonable costs of one junior Counsel and solicitor only.”
You can read a local news article on the case, and another.